


A SENSE of Cascade pt. 1 - Sentinel Too... and a half

by Anjel_X



Series: A SENSE of Cascade [1]
Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, No Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21623473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anjel_X/pseuds/Anjel_X
Summary: (This takes place after the series ends)Detectives Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg come across someone that will turn their world upside down... how much trouble could a little seven year old girl be... especially one from a loony bin...
Series: A SENSE of Cascade [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558465
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. SENSE of Things to Come

**Author's Note:**

> I was going through some old boxes that I hadn't opened in around twenty years and found an old fan fiction series I wrote back in collage. It was for an old TV series called 'The Sentinel' about a Police detective with massively heightened senses that had trouble controlling them. As I re-read some of it (i have like at least 50 pages written) I thought I'd like to put it up for 'public consumption' a few little things that are in my Undertale fic originally came from this story. If you never heard of the series, I have a quick rundown at the beginning of this chapter to help. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had enjoyed writing it...
> 
> P.S. It starts a bit 'dark' but as anything I do... hilarity will soon ensue....

**Very Important pre-story reading stuff:**

This is a fanfiction for a TV show called ‘The Sentinel’ that I wrote like 20 years ago waaaay back in 1998 or 1999 when I was in college (it is currently 2019) My story takes place after the end of the series. For those who have no idea what it was about, here’s a quick rundown of the show to understand the story:

“ ** _The Sentinel_** is a Canadian-American action crime drama series that aired on UPN in the United States from March 20, 1996 to May 24, 1999. It premiered on March 20, 1996, and ran for 65 episodes (four seasons). Jim Ellison was a US Army Ranger who spent 18 months in the Peruvian jungle after the rest of his unit was killed. He developed hyper acute senses from surviving in the wild, but repressed them when he returned to civilization. His sensory abilities re-manifested five years later, while conducting an extended stakeout in the forest as a detective in the Major Crimes Unit of the Cascade, Washington, police department. He went to a hospital for an examination where he met Blair Sandburg, an anthropologist from Rainier University, whom Ellison initially mistook for a physician. Upon hearing Ellison's story, Sandburg declares that Ellison is a "Sentinel": in ancient tribes, Sentinels used their enhanced senses to protect their village. For Jim, Cascade is his village. Blair had been studying Sentinel mythology for years. While he found many individuals with one or two hyperactive senses, he had never before found a person with all five senses enhanced, a "true" Sentinel. Blair helps Jim control his senses and joins Jim as a police observer. Their unlikely partnership works, and together they fight crime in the streets of Cascade. The only person aside from Sandburg who knows Jim's secret is his captain and friend, Simon Banks.”

**Very Important spoilery stuff:**

Jim's hyper acute senses allow him to perceive things undetectable by normal humans. He can see perfectly in low light situations and with superb acuity at long distances, hear sounds at extremely low volume or beyond the normal range of human hearing, and sense what others cannot via taste, touch and smell; he declares himself "a walking forensic lab". Jim's powers have a drawback: if he concentrates too strongly on one sense, he may become oblivious to his immediate surroundings also called a ‘Zone out’. Part of Blair's job as his ‘Guide’ is preventing this, and protecting Jim when he is focusing. As a Sentinel Jim has several powers:

  * All 5 senses are strongly enhanced
  * Able to communicate with ghosts
  * Has a spirit animal, a black jaguar
  * Sometimes has psychometry, has no control over when it happens (the ability in which a person can sense or "read" the history of an object by touching it)
  * Receives visions that guide him in the choices he makes and sometimes predict the future (Jim had a vision that showed Blair's death before Alex killed him)
  * Used the power of his animal spirit to bring Blair back from the dead
  * In Jim's visions, Blair's spirit animal is a grey wolf.



For the more info: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel_(TV_series)>

Now on with my story…  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

A small, pig-tailed girl wandered the allies of Cascade, Washington and gave a little sniff. She looked up towards the sky that was filling with dark, moisture-heavy clouds. They seemed like they were trying to totally block out the mid afternoon sun. It was another typical dreary Spring Saturday in the rainy city. Stiffening and shuddering slightly, she protectively clutched her stuffed animal a little tighter for comfort. She knew the small stuffed back cat wouldn’t really keep her safe, but the reason she had it would. At least that was what she was told… or more like what she understood from the things her strange and cryptic friend kept telling her since she was little. Though, for a small girl who was hardly old enough to tie her own shoes, that long time was actually only about 3 years. She gazed at the darkening sky and listened to the sounds of the city around her. The ‘Great City’… with Great big sounds, Great bright lights, Great loud sounds, and especially Great big buildings to get lost around. What little sunlight that was trickling down between these Great buildings, gave her plenty of shadows to hide in. That made it easy to avoid anyone else that might be wandering these same alleys. Not that anyone should be looking for her… not yet anyway. A few more hours and there would be… they’d find her like they always did, but not easily. She never made it easy for them… no matter how nice they might try to be. She knew they weren’t nice people and some were just plain mean.

Her only friend, not counting her stuffed black kitty she named Inkie, told her that she shouldn’t be afraid of those people. She wasn’t and she knew they were just doing their jobs, but she **was** afraid of **THEM**. **The Dark Ones… The Evil Ones.** She had heard lots of names for **THEM**. **THEY** would take her in the night, or even in broad daylight, if they found her and could never, ever be trusted. That wasn’t exactly what he said, but it was close enough. He had a funny way of saying things and was hard to understand. The way he talked reminded her of the TV shows she sometimes saw on Sundays. The ones where a man in a white robe stood and read out of his big black book. She usually didn’t watch them and instead watched cartoons or shows about animals. Especially when they were about big black cats or wild dogs with silvery hair. She liked drawing them too. She thought of all the pictures she had found or drew of them when suddenly, the sounds of shouting startled her out of her half daydream.

She ducked into a dark shadow, behind some discarded crates and boxes, and looked to the roof of a nearby building. Up towards the argument that was escalating quickly. From where she hid, she could see and hear the two of them clearly. Her friend was always reminding her to ‘Trust what you see without your eyes’, so she looked at the one man and closed her eyes. All she saw was darkness… a darkness so deep it was like looking into a bottomless pit in the middle of nowhere, during the darkest part of a moonless night, and so overcast that no star could shine down from the heavens above. It was a darkness in the shape of a man. A darkness that seemed to slither like a big, black, venomous snake. Everything in her seemed to scream out that this was one of **THEM**. She wanted to run, but if she did, **HE** might see her. So she stayed where she hid with her eyes squeezed shut. Transfixed by what she ‘saw’ until she heard a bloodcurdling scream. It was as if the darkness slithered around its prey until it was to the edge of the roof. Then **IT** seemed to **STRIKE** at it, knocking it over the edge. To her closed eyes, the falling man ‘looked’ more like a great big brown bear… at least it did until it stopped suddenly, hitting the ground motionless and seemed to fade away. The last thing that came to her mind was her friend’s cryptic words of ‘The Great Black Cat of the Great City will protect you’. Then there was nothing.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

Blair Sandburg slumped in the passenger seat of the F-150 truck nicknamed the ‘Hayseed truck’ and sighed. “Jim? Remind me why we’re doing this, man. We’re not beat cops.”

Detective James Ellison shook his head after hearing his partner and Guide ask the same question for the past four hours. “I told you, chief. They’re shorthanded right now. Half the force is out with the flu.” Blair really wasn’t a chief of any kind, but the nickname just seemed to stick from the first time they met.

“I guess I should be happy we got stuck on patrol. Simon could’ve given us traffic duty or worse… like meter maids. Can you imagine us…”

The stoic Sentinel simply smiled and half listened to his energetic partner’s rambling. Suddenly he muttered “Quiet, chief. Listen…” as he motioned towards the police scanner.

“I repeat, attention all units in the vicinity of the Cascade Rehabilitation and Psychiatric Institute. We have an APB out for a white female, age 7, 3 ½ feet tall and 45 lbs., with brown hair in pigtails, brown eyes and a ½” scar above her left knee. Last seen wearing a lavender t-shirt, jean shorts, and white sneakers. Suspect may also be wearing a rainbow colored backpack or fanny pack. Approach with cation and return suspect directly to the Institute.” This had happened so often with this particular ‘patient’ that they didn’t bother filling out any reports or even bothered stopping at the station and just taking her straight back to the Institute.

Someone else came over the scanner sounding annoyed. “Not that crazy brat from CRaPI again. Forget it! I am **not** picking her up again. I ain’t paid enough ta take abuse from that kid. I still got bruises from the last time I picked her up. She called me a ‘big meanie’ and then kicked me in the shin… twice in the same spot. Brat’s too nuts to be scared of anything.”

Another officer added “Yup, that kid’s got quite a kick. I just hope she didn’t find another ‘pet’. I had to get stitches after getting scratched by that black cat of hers. I think she called it ‘Cuddles’ of all things.”

The first officer added “I wish they’d do their job over there. I get enough abuse from the criminals. I don’t need it from some snot-nosed ankle-biter with too many screws loose.”

A third officer joined in with “I hear half the time she just goes back an hour later before anyone can find her. Sometimes before they even knew she was gone.”

Dispatch finally interrupted with “Stop tying up the line! The suspect’s been loose for at least two hours and the weather report is calling for rain.”

The first officer came back on with “Let her get soaked. That’ll teach ‘er ta stay put.”

Dispatch interrupted again “That’s enough! Any units in that vicinity… that’ll do their actual job that is.”

Jim picked up the mike and responded “This is David-1-5-2. I’m headed in that direction and will keep an eye out.” Putting the mike down, he shook his head and glanced over at Blair. “I hear they have to track her down at least twice a week. Last I heard, most of the officers refuse to patrol that area.”

Blair smiled and added “I saw a few of them last week. They were complaining about all the trouble that kid’s caused them. I thought they were joking about going on strike if they had to look for her one more time.” He paused and started to laugh “I bet most of them really don’t have the flu. I mean, how often do that many people get a **Spring** flu? I bet they just want a break from chasing after some little kid.” Pausing and thinking a moment, he continued, more to himself than to Jim “I wonder why she’s in there. Seven is really young for somebody in the Psyco ward.”

“I didn’t know they made straitjackets that small.” Jim mused aloud.

“Actually they do. Did you know that… hey!” Blair stopped as he was flung forward in his seat. “Hey, man! Why’d you slam on the brakes?”

“We’ve got a situation down there.” He said as he got out of his truck and pulled out his gun. He pointed down a dark alley.

“Jim, man. You know I can’t see anything.” Blair mumbled while he rolled his eyes. Jim constantly forgot how different his perceptions were compared to everyone else.

“Sorry, chief.” The Sentinel said as he walked toward the prone figure far down the dark alley. He used his enhanced senses to check the area and knew that his Guide would follow right after him. Even if he told him to stay in the truck. As he approached the large man lying face down on the ground, he checked for a pulse to confirm what his sense of hearing already confirmed. He then put his gun away.

Standing behind his friend, Blair watched for any sign of a zone out from him focusing too much on his enhanced senses. Thankfully it didn’t happen quite as much anymore, but it was still better to be careful. That and he really did not want to look at the dead body. “Is he…?”

Jim simply nodded. “You know the drill, chief. Make sure you call the coroner.” Putting on a pair of rubber gloves, he picked up a scrap of paper lying near the body. Reading it quickly, he added “Suicide note. Looks like he jumped from that building over there.” pointing towards the nearby building.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

Blair watched his partner work in silence. The alley was perfectly quiet except for the occasional old newspaper rustling in the breeze. Suddenly, he jumped as a small child’s voice spoke up somewhere behind him. It was almost too quiet for him to hear.

“…didn’ jump, Jimmy… got pushed…” As the two turned to look at her, she stared at them, closed her eyes for a moment, and simply smiled with a strange expression on her face. Then she raised her left hand and put her small fingers around the shoulder strap of her colorful backpack. She rested her other hand, holding a stuffed animal, on her little hip-pack.

“Man! She scared the heck outta me! Jim! Why didn’t you warn me?”

“I noticed her right before she spoke up. I was paying more attention to him.” Jim claimed knowing Blair would understand that he had hyper focused certain senses studying the victim and was not focused on his surroundings. That was why Blair needed to be close by.

Looking at the pigtailed girl for a second, Blair started “Isn’t that the kid we’re…” but Jim interrupted him.

Squatting down in front of the small child, he calmly asked her “How long have you been here?” The child simply frowned and shrugged. “What’s your name?”

The child shuffled a little nervously, closed her eyes again and smiled. Then she quietly said “…Anjie...” Just loud enough for only someone with enhanced hearing to catch.

Jim, not realizing how quiet she spoke, asked “All right, Anjie… did you see what happened to this man?” The expression on her small freckled face saddened and she only nodded.

Blair, not hearing the child’s response, began to worry “Uh… Jim, man?”

He shushed his partner and turned back to the child. “Did you see the person that hurt him?” He was trying not to scare her, but he knew he wasn’t good with kids. He knew Blair was, most likely because he acted like one sometimes. He saw that she scrunched her face and nodded ‘yes’ again. Then she pointed up toward the exact same building he pointed out before. “How far up?” he pressed before wondering how well she could count.

Before he could ask again, she whispered “…roof…”

He looked up at the roof, focused on his sight, and saw where a lone shoe sat almost falling over the edge. The same shoe the man was missing. He turned to face Blair and uttered “Looks like we’ve got a murder disguised as a suicide on our hands.” So quietly that his partner almost didn’t hear him.

“Uh… Jim? That building is eight floors high.” He said nervously, hoping that Jim would understand what he was implying. That a ‘normal’ person wouldn’t have been able to spot that.

Waving his Guide off, he asked a few more questions. “If you saw that other person again, would you be able to recognize them?” She scrunched her face in disgust and nodded, but not before looking scared and clutching the small stuffed animal to her chest with both small hands.

Blair, seeing the child’s distress, studied the stuffed black cat and asked “Can I see your friend?” motioning to the stuffed animal. The child paused a moment as if to ponder whether or not it was safe. Then she carefully held her bright blue-eyed friend out in front of her like it was alive. Studying it further, Blair chuckled and asked “Is that a panther?” With a small giggle and a big smile on her face, she rapidly nodded, her lopsided pigtails bobbing madly. “Did you know that my partner, Jim here likes panthers?”

She giggled in delight and glanced at said partner with an odd look in her eyes, then adding so quietly that only Jim could hardly hear her “…I know…”

Blair, not noticing the puzzled expression on his Sentinel’s face, added “What’s his name?”

She looked back at Blair with an expression that seemed to say ‘Should I tell them?’ yet at the same time, seemed to say ‘I think they might already know’. Taking a deep breath and grinning sheepishly, she whispered loud enough for Blair to hear this time “…Inkie…” She cuddled the stuffed animal and then frowned. She looked behind her and seemed to be listening to something.

Standing up, Jim said “Sounds like the Calvary is on its way, chief.”

Of course Blair only shrugged and took his word for it since he couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, let alone any police sirens if they were going off.


	2. The Cat's out of the Bag

Blair looked back to the child in time to see her wrap her arms around Jim’s leg. Sounding on the verge of tears, voice wavering, she whimpered quietly “…we don’ wanna go back… p-please d-don’ let ‘em take us back, Jimmy…” Squeezing his leg harder and now fully crying, she added “…h-h-he’ll get me th-there… an’-an’ he’ll t-t-take me away l-l-like h-he d-d-did ta him…” The rest was drowned out with tears as she looked up at Jim’s blue eyes in sheer terror. It was as if she was looking into his soul itself with her big, brown, tear-filled eyes.

Jim looked helplessly over at his watching Guide, hoping he knew what to do. Jaw clenching, he sighed and picked up the even more helpless child into his arms. As she wrapped her arms around his muscled neck, she buried her face in his large shoulder, still sobbing. He could feel her trembling in utter fear. Clenching his jaw enough for it to pop, he defeatedly mumbled to his partner “Well… we can’t have a witness to a faked… ‘accident’… unprotected. Even in a loony bin… that and we need to get more information out of her. I bet the… bad person… is not going to like the fact that their cover-up didn’t work. We’d better take her back to the station with us. She’ll probably put up a fight with anyone else.” He then started walking to the beat up F-150 “I think it would be safer if we put her in the truck right now, chief. It’ll keep her out of everyone’s hair and out of trouble. As he walked he wondered what kept making him want to sneeze.

Now only sniffling, she softly whispered into his sensitive ear “…thank you… he said you’d protect me…”

Puzzled, Jim asked who she meant… not knowing if he’d understand or like her answer. She was supposedly crazy and all.

“…my Special Friend…” she whispered matter-of-factly as her tears began to dry up.

Unsure whether or not to ask, he opened the passenger side door of the Hayseed truck and cautiously said “Him?” as he pointed to the stuffed panther.

The strange girl had that same odd look in her eyes and shook her head. She then cautiously whispered into his ear “…they say he ain’t real… nobody believes us… he tells us stuff… it’s his job ‘till the right person comes ta take me away from there… that’s what he promised…”

As Jim shut the door, locking it first, and walked halfway back to the crime scene, he paused a moment. He almost turned around and walked back, but decided against it. Maybe he was hearing things, but he almost thought he heard her say something. It sounded like she said something to the effect of ‘The Great Black Cat of the Great City will watch over you.’ Then even quieter, it sounded like she corrected it with ‘Jimmy’s Panther will protect me.’ He wasn’t quite sure, but he **was** sure he was hearing things. He **had** to be. Especially the perfectly calm and sure tone of that voice. He scratched his head in confusion. How did she even know about his spirit animal anyway? If she’s crazy, or even if she isn’t, there’s definitely something strange about that kid. _I get the feeling that if I repeat what I thought I heard, **I’d** be the one getting the padded room._ Lost in thought, he walked next to Blair and stared at the body on the ground. More to himself than to his partner, he mumbled “I’m the last person to be saying this, but there’s definitely something… strange about her. I almost think that **I’m** going crazy listening to her.”

“We went through this when **I** first met you. You’re not crazy.” His Guide said with a grin. “But… right now you’re starting to worry **me** …” He added “…you look like you saw a ghost… **again**.” He finished very seriously as he kept thinking that there was something he was missing. Something she said that didn’t make sense or something like that.

“No… it’s something I thought I heard.” Jim said, unsure of himself. _Why did that first part sound so familiar…_ He shook it off as he saw Captain Banks’ new car pull up behind his old blue and white truck. He could smell Simon’s cigar before his Captain even left his car. Hearing fast paced writing, he glanced over to his partner again. He saw that Blair was writing notes in his illegible scrawl. The top had ‘Angie’ circled at the top. “It’s with a ‘j’, chief.” Glancing up from his writing, Blair looked a little puzzled. Jim explained “Her name… it’s spelled with a ‘j’ not a ‘g’… no last name though. It was written on a tag on her backpack.”

As Blair made his correction, Jim greeted Simon and filled him in on what they found out. Leaving out the strange conversation and the other things his Captain would not want to hear. Simon did not like to hear too much about anything ‘strange’ like Jims enhanced senses. He certainly wouldn’t want to hear about panthers, invisible friends, and the other ramblings of a mentally unstable seven year old.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

As the rest of the officers, including forensics and the coroner, were taking care of the crime scene, Simon chomped on the end of his cigar. On the plus side, the loony bin escapee was found… on the down side, he now had an unsolved murder that was meant to look like a suicide. Even worse, the two were connected because the kid witnessed the murder first hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Something told him that this case was already more trouble than it was worth. If a seven year old could get **out** of the nut house every week, then how hard would it be for the murderer to get **in** and do something to **her**? She was going to need to be watched 24-7 in a safe house until this thing was solved. The docs at the loony bin were not going to like that. If he could pull some strings to have her in a safe house, how long could they even get her to stay put?

If he heard correctly, most of the officers that had run across her wouldn’t go near her again. The rest wouldn’t because of her reputation. _If I’m not about to babysit this kid myself, who would? Detectives Rafe and Brown? Maybe… maybe not… might be a bad influence… the thing that really worries me is whether she would be an influence to those two or the other way around. One thing I am certain of is that I’d need at least two officers watching her at all times… if not more. Not as much to keep the killer out, but more to keep her staying put and not wandering off somewhere._ Walking up to Detectives Ellison and Sandburg, he asked “You two sure she’s still in the truck? Maybe you should go over there and keep an eye on her, Sandburg.” As the three of them walked back to the ‘Hayseed’, Simon’s eyes went wide. He yelled as he broke out into a run as much to their surprise, Jim’s truck started slowly rolling backwards towards his shiny new car. Just as the trio were three feet away from the truck, it suddenly stopped, but not before speeding up for a split second. It just barely missed Simon’s car by no more than an inch. By then Captain Banks was fuming. **“Didn’t you even put the emergency brake on?”** He bellowed.

As Jim unlocked the driver’s side door, he claimed he did. When the trio looked into the truck, they saw the little pigtailed girl, who was looking very guilty, but even more ashamed. She was kneeling on the floor of the driver’s side of the truck with both hands pressed against the brake pedal. While Jim put the parking brake back on, the girl broke into tears. She then started rambling “…’m sorry, Jimmy… was ‘n acc’dent… I hope I didn’ break your truck…” Then proceeded in crying more as she crawled back onto the passage side seat, crossing her hands in her lap.

Simon stormed next to the door and bellowed at the top of his lungs “ **His** **truck**? You almost hit my new car and you’re worried about this hunk of junk?” He then kicked the front tire of the hayseed. As often as Jim’s truck got wrecked, he ended up just giving up and keeping this old thing.

As the Captain yelled, the small girl curled into a fetal position, covered her ears as tight as she could, squeezed her eyes shut, and started whimpering and bawling. What little they could make out was “…s-s-s-sttop… y’scarin’ me… s’too loud… p-p-please… it hurts…” over and over again.

Reacting quickly, Jim pulled Simon aside as Blair crawled into the truck to comfort the trembling child. When Simon stopped yelling and started to calm down, Jim walked back over to the open door. “Is she okay?” he asked softly, not knowing what happened _It’s way too quiet._

“To be honest, I don’t know, man. She stopped when you pulled Simon away and got him quiet. She just curled up and she hasn’t moved or said anything since. If I didn’t know any better… I swear she just zoned out.” He said the last part quietly, in case anyone besides the three of them was in earshot. He, Captain Banks, and one other were the only ones who knew about Jim’s zone outs when he got overloaded by his enhanced senses.

Without warning, the girl sat up, opened her eyes and uncovered her ears. She whispered “…shouldn’ swear… not nice…” Then she folded her hands in her lap and looked down at her feet. She sneezed, rubbed her nose that was turning red and irritated, and just said “…cigar…” with a look of disgust on her face.

Shutting the door softly, Blair pulled Jim and Simon aside a moment. Before Simon could voice his arguments, he explained quietly, with an excited twinkle in his eyes “I think this kid might not be as crazy as she seems… I’m not saying she isn’t, but just hear me out. From what I’m piecing together, she might be as crazy as Jim thought he was when I first met him… if you catch my meaning. I’m not sure yet, but if my theories are right, we might run into some problems. I don’t know what level we’re talking about… y’know full or partial… I’ll probably need to do some tests first…”

Jim grimaced at the mention of Blair’s dreaded ‘tests’ and clenched his jaw again.

Simon glared at Blair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You telling me she’s like him or Helios?” pointing his thumb at Jim and chomping on his cigar more.

Blair simply shrugged, but looked delighted as he started bouncing on his feet.

Seeing some of the other officers walking towards them, Simon sighed and said “As much as you know I hate discussing this stuff, we’ll continue this in my office as soon as you get back. Got it? Bring the kid… we’ll need to talk to the docs at the nuthouse and make some arrangements, too.” As he walked back to his car, looking at the near collision again, he mumbled “I knew this wasn’t going to be my day. Why my city…” He got into his car and drove back to the station.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

“Looks like they’re finishing up, chief. We’d better head back before anything else happens.” Jim said as he got into his truck and started it up. He looked over and saw the small girl, still sitting in the middle of the front seat, morosely looking at her backpack that she had put on the floor of the passenger side. _She must’ve taken it off right after I put her in the truck._ As he drove away, Bair was still making notes and glancing down at the sad little 7 year old.

Without looking up, she sniffled and spoke softly “…sorry, Jimmy…”

Jim clenched his jaw and reached over with his right hand, mussing her hair a little. “It’s okay, kiddo. The Captain’s usually like that… by the way, I’d like him to stop smoking those cigars, too.” He gave her a quick little smile.

She looked up and a small smile came across her face. She looked back at the backpack and said softly “…we don’ like them stinky things… do we… nope… don’ like yellin’ either… hurts our ears… yes it does… doesn’ it…”

Blair stopped writing and looked over at the cold. “You’re name’s Anjie, right?” She looked at him and nodded. Jim sneezed again and glanced down at the brightly colored backpack with annoyance. Puzzled, Blair awkwardly asked “Uh… would you mind telling me why you keep saying ’we’ and ‘us’… are you including your… stuffed panther?” He almost said Jim, but stopped himself. _I’m almost sure that’s what she actually means._

She looked at Blair like he was crazy and smiled “Inkie? No, silly… guess I better let the cat out of the bag…” She reached down and put the backpack on her lap, unzipping the larger section. Suddenly, Jim pulled over and slammed on the break, stalling the old truck in the processes, as a sneezing fit hit him. Reaching in, the grinning child pulled out a small Calico kitten that purred happily. “…say hi, Cally…” The kitten looked up at Jim and let out a small meow.

Blair started to laugh as Jim continued to sneeze. “That’s why you keep sneezing around her! I should’ve figured it out sooner… one of the officers was talking about her and her ‘pets’!” He continued to laugh then stopped abruptly and added “Sorry, Jim.” He almost said ‘Jimmy’, but thought better of it.

“…’s not my pet… ‘s my friend… you an’ Jimmy are my friends too, right?” She said to Blair, looking hopeful. “…I can’t ever keep any friends like Cally…my Special Friend can’t visit me no more… he said he hadda help his other Friends…” She finished, looking lonely, while hugging both live and stuffed cats, one in each arm. “…he said he’d try an’ visit me if he could…”

Jim stopped sneezing for a moment and asked “Who… or should I ask what, is this other ‘friend’ of yours?” _I hope it’s not another animal._

Anjie looked into Blair’s hazel eyes and softly said “…he is what you believe him to be…” Then she winked at Blair like what she said was a secret the two shared.

The Guide’s face paled as if he half remembered a dream or was getting a severe case of deja’vu. _I know I heard that before… but when?_

Jim looked over at him and reached across to put his hand on Blair’s shoulder. “Chief? Are you all right? Now **you’re** worrying **me**.”

Blair looked over at him trying to calm down and mouthed the word ‘later’. _He probably means ‘when the kid isn’t around._ His sneezing stopped for the most part as he had finally ‘dialed down’ his sense of smell, he started the truck back up and drove the remainder of the way to in silence.

Silent except for the content purring of the small kitten, the sound of Blair’s writing, and the occasional sneeze from Jim.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

The trio in the Hayseed truck was only a few blocks from the precinct when Jim had to stop at a red light. As he waited for it to change, he and Blair both glanced down at Anjie. She was staring out Blair’s open window and shivering. “Man… and I thought **I** got cold easy…” Blair mumbled before asking her if she was cold. _Maybe I should shut the window…_ She simply continued to stare out the window. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Blair tried to snap her out of what appeared to be another possible ‘zone out’. If it was… that trick usually worked when it happened to Jim.

She breathed in sharply, shook her head a little, and looked at Blair. She blinked her eyes a few times as if to refocus them and whispered “…not cold… feels bad…” She seemed to be staring at the early evening sky and the few trees that were within eyeshot. The wind seemed to be picking up slightly.

Puzzled, Blair asked “What feels bad?”

Still focused on what she was looking at and lost in thought, she half said to herself “…gonna rain soon… feels like it’s gonna be a bad one… don’ like thunner storms…” She shuddered as she finished.

As the light turned green, Jim drove on towards the precinct, still listening to the child. “I don’t think she’s shivering because she’s cold, chief. I think it’s from nervousness… she’s scared.”

Blair nodded and tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to be scared of storms. You’re safer inn the truck because of its rubber tires… that and lightning doesn’t...”

Jim cut him off before he continued and simply tapped at his ear _Come on, chief… use that big brain of yours that you enjoy showing off._

It took a moment to understand what Jim was reminding him of. Glancing at his notes, he remembered the incident with Simon. “Ooooohhhhh… the thunder… it’s too loud for you, isn’t it. Loud noises scare you because they hurt your ears, right?” Anjie simply nodded once and continued to stare out the window. Writing more notes, he decided to ask a few more questions that were nagging at him. “How do you know it’s going to be bad out?”

Speaking softly she explained “…lotsa ways… it tells me…” As she spoke, the kitten batted at one of her pigtails.

“Okay… uh… do you see anything that tells you this? I’d like to know… if you can tell me.” _I hope I can get answers without scaring her._

“…the trees… the way they look when the wind blows… the sky… the clouds… the little buggies flyin’ ‘round in circles…” She still seemed to be talking to herself, but at least she was responding in her little half zone out.

Scribbling things down, he tried another sense… he might as well try to find out what senses were enhanced “Does it … feel like anything?” _I’m not sure if she’ll understand that question… I don’t know how else to ask…_

She seemed to think for a moment, then continued “…the air… when there’s no wind… ‘s like there’s no air… not hot or cold… nothing… the wind fells diff’rent… it feels… wet… it… it doesn’ feel right… an’ the sound it makes… the sound of the wind… howlin’ it s-scares m-me…”

Blair put an arm around her for comfort for a moment and then continued to write _I’m not going to push any more questions on her… unless I figure out the thing that still bugging me about something she said earlier._

Jim patted her on the head and stated “It’s all right, me and Blair are right here.”

She snuggled close to Blair, since Jim was still driving, and shut her eyes. Then she sighed and continued as if he had asked her to continue. “…the wind… the air has a funny smell… it smells… stale… like a shut trunk or basement… rain’s gotta smell, too… like the air ‘fore it starts… but stronger… umm… musty… I think that’s it… it all has the same taste… it tastes just like it smells… heavy…” She drifted off, not knowing how to describe it better. It was like trying to describe a color to someone born completely blind.

Blair looked at her amazed. Finishing his notes, he looked up and realized Jim had turned the engine off. They were already parked in the garage. He glanced at Jim, who was looking back at him in deep thought.

“Now that I think about it, she’s right. Even the ‘rain has a smell and taste’ part.” He mused aloud.

Flustered, Blair asked him “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I never paid much attention, I guess.” He answered with a shrug.

Letting out a sigh and taking more notes, he thought out loud “The air’s got a taste… next thing you’ll be telling me water’s got a smell.”

Anjie looked up at him and shook her head “…’couse it does… city water smells like… swimming pools… jus’ not as strong…”

Blair looked both shocked and puzzled. Jim only grinned and said “Chlorine.”

Nodding, she continued “…an’ it tastes like it too… bleh… country water tastes like… metal… an’ other stuff…”

“Metal? Ohhhh… the minerals and sediments in the ground gets into the water supply…” Blair continued to ramble on while scribbling quickly.

The small girl scratched her head and gave up trying to explain or understand some of what he was mumbling about. She was getting a little tired. Being nervous always made her pay extra attention to everything around her. When she was done, she always ended up really tired. She remembered hearing something on TV about something called ‘drenalin’… when you’re scared you use a lot of it… when you were done and it wore off you got really tired.

Jim opened the driver’s side door and said “We better get going. Simon’s waiting for us to get back.” He looked at Anjie and her kitten and added “You better put… Cally… back in your backpack. I don’t think Simon’s going to like any animals loose in his office.” His nose still itched, but it wasn’t as bad as long as he tried to keep his sense of smell ‘turned down’. If he was going to be around her furry ‘friend’ for a length of time, he was going to have to have Blair work with him on controlling it better. Though he’d have to get him to promise no more ‘tests’ for a while, first.

She put the purring kitten back in her backpack and put it on, but not before rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn. She held onto Inkie tightly as Blair helped her out of the truck.

“You getting sleepy? I bet you’ve had a busy day, huh?” Blair asked as he rolled up the window and shut the door. She simply shrugged and glanced to a still lit cigarette butt on the ground. She pulled out a small purple squirt gun out of her hip pack, aimed, and gave the smoldering butt a quick soaking. She then promptly put it away.

Jim had walked over in time to see her drench the cigarette butt that was a few feet away from her. “Nice shot… Squirt.”

She looked over at him and giggled _I never had a nickname before… there were rude names some people call me, but those don’ count… I’m sure happy I found Jimmy… Blair’s nice real too… though I don’t know him very good… I don’ know anything about that Simon guy though… my Friend never tol’ me ‘bout him… all I know is he likes to smoke those smelly things, yells real loud, and seems really grumpy…_ At the same time, she wondered when Cuddles would visit her again…


	3. What a CATastrophe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOWEEE!!!!!! OVER 40 HITS IN ONE DAY!!!!!!
> 
> I was going to PAWS a bit to post the next part FUR now, but beCLAWS of all the hits, I'mma gonna do it right MEOW!
> 
> Are you aMEWsed?

Since she seemed rather tired and they needed to keep her from wandering off, Jim had decided to carry Anjie up to Simon’s office. As they waited for the elevator to take them to the 8th floor, a little girl was looking around at the officers passing by. She waved at a few who promptly ran off in another direction. Both Jim and Blair saw this and were puzzled by the reactions.

Jim quietly asked her “Hey, Squirt… do you know them?”

“…uhhhh… I’ve seen ‘em around…” she whispered sheepishly.

An officer walked up to wait at the elevator, saw Anjie, mumbled something about needing exercise, and made a beeline to the stairs.

Blair chuckled and whispered to Jim “You know, this is actually kind of funny… I bet we won’t need to wait in line for anything.”

“That’s not funny, chief.” Jim attempted to reply sternly, but couldn’t help grinning. He said this after another officer spun around, claiming he left his headlights on, and walked away quickly. He looked at the little girl in his arms. “Something tells me you’ve got more of a reputation than the criminals.”

She just looked back at him confused, then waved at yet another officer.

“Hi ya Mr. Thompson… sorry ‘bout Cuddles… hope he didn’ scratch ya too bad… he thought you were gonna hurt me…” She said to him quietly and sorrowfully.

The officer looked up, saw her and groaned. “Yeah, I’m fine… that cat made me get stitches. Wait… ‘Cuddles’? You should call it ‘Cujo’… wait a second… why’d you bring her in **here** Detective Ellison? I know you don’t usually handle calls about her, but she’s supposed to go back to the Institute.”

“Leaning over to the officer to speak quietly in his ear “She’s a murder witness and not only do we need to get a statement, she’s going to need protection.”

“Mumbling to himself, Officer Thompson mumbled “Great… well… I’ve got vacation days coming up…” He had no idea that two people next to him could hear him quite clearly. He then spoke up “You’d better not let Officer Ekirts know she’s here… you know he… uh… doesn’t like her. I know you heard him on the mike earlier today. I heard he was going to handcuff her next time. Just figured I’d warn ya.” He mumbled the last part as he walked over to the stairs.

“I think I heard something about that I thought they were kidding.” Blair whispered to Jim.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t been suspended more for his attitude. I thought he was kicked off the force… guess I was wrong.” He then turned to Anjie and asked “How many times have you run into Officer Ekirts?”

The child thought a moment while trying to count on her fingers. “…uhhhhh…. A bunch ‘a times… he’s a big **meanie** … he grabbed my arm too hard an’ it hurt so much that I kicked ‘im so hard he let me go. I had ta do it gain ‘cause he has squeezing my arm harder… I try ta make sure he don’ find me, but he does sometimes… Cuddles was gonna make ‘im stop hurtin’ me , but Mr. Meanie left ‘fore he could. The next one ta find me was Mr. Thompson an’ Cuddles thought he was gonna hurt me too… tha’s why he scratched ‘em.” _There’s something that scares me about Mr. Meanie… but I don’ know why…_

Blair nodded, now understanding what he heard earlier. ‘Cuddles’ is your cat, too?”

She shook her head “…no… he’s my friend… he helps me out sometimes… he’s not my ‘ **Special** Animal Friend’… but he’s still my friend…”

“You have a lot of … unique friends.” Blair said before looking at the elevator, annoyed. “What’s with the elevator? It shouldn’t take **this** long, man.”

Jim cocked his head to listen a moment, shook his head and laughed. “The elevator isn’t coming down, chief. It’s stopped on the second floor and everyone’s taking the stairs.”

At that, the trio took the stairs up to the second floor and then the elevator the rest of the way. _I’m not sure if Simon would believe this one… one thing I do know is that he is **not** going to be happy to hear about it._ He suddenly felt sorry for whoever did it… and their superior officer.

As they made their way up in the elevator, Blair thought of a quote he’d heard often. ‘With friends like these, who needs enemies.’ _If that’s true… I **really** don’t think I’d want to find out and meet her **real** enemies… if she even truly even has any. I hope she doesn’t… for everyone’s sake… hmmm… there’s still something bugging me like crazy… something odd… but familiar about that little girl’s name… especially how it’s spelled…  
  
_

~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

As the trio arrived at the Major Crimes department, Jim could hear Simon arguing on the phone. He also heard the little girl’s stomach grumbling. “When’s the last time you ate, Squirt?”

She thought a moment “…bre’fast…” _I’m pretty hungry an’ it’s dinnertime… that an’ I did sneak out before lunch._

“We should’ve thought about picking up something on our way.” Blair said, then thought to himself _I guess Jim’s warming up to her, calling her ‘Squirt’ and all… he doesn’t seem to mind her calling him ‘Jimmy’ either. I just hope she doesn’t start calling me ‘Sandy’ like Megan does._

“Let’s see what we can scrounge for you.” Jim told her as he headed to the break room. “Simon’s not ready to see us yet, anyway.” They could all hear the Captain still yelling on the phone.

Blair was looking in the fridge for anything healthy when he realized Jim had stopped in front of the snack machine. He was pointing things out and asking her what she liked. “Jim, man! She hasn’t eaten anything since this morning! You can’t give her candy!”

Jim just ignored him as he pumped quarters into the machine and punched the numbers in for a Bronco Bar. Then he tried to get a bag of chips, but they suddenly jammed. “Why do the chips always get stuck?” He mumbled as he set the hungry child down and proceeded to try to shake the machine. He also tried putting his arm up the little door, but to no avail.

“…you’re never gonna get ‘em out that way, Jimmy…” She laughed as she took her backpack off. She opened the section that the kitten wasn’t in and rummaged around. Finding what she was looking for, she walked over to the machine and reached both of her little arms into the little door. She then proceeded to unwind a small roll of thin wire. When it was high enough, she simply tapped the offending bag a few times until it finally dropped to the bottom. She quickly rolled the wire back up, pulled it out along with the chips, and turned around … smiling triumphantly.

“That was great! How’d you do that?” Blair asked, amazed.

“MacGyver is one ‘a my fave’rite shows…” She explained as she put the roll of wire away and climbed up on a nearby chair.

Blair paled while he tried to remember all the things that were used to make explosives and other dangerous things on the show. _I don’t think she’d try anything… but better to be safe than sorry._ He looked up to the sound of Jim trying to get pop out of the other machine. He had put the quarters in, but the machine refused to dispense anything. “It ate my money.” He mumbled.

Anjie looked up at Jim and grinned, saying “I think it’s **coin** -ivorous, Jimmy.”

 ** _‘coin_** _-ivorous’_ Blair chuckled _That was a pretty good one._ Then to his dismay, the can of Coke finally dropped. As Jim pulled it out of the machine, Blair complained “Chocolate, salty chips, and pop is **not** dinner… especially for a seven year old!”

“Relax, chief… it’s just to hold her over. I figured we’d stop at Wonderburger when we’re done here.”

Anjie looked up excitedly and ran over to hug Jim. “Yay!! I **love** Wonderburger! Can I get a Smiley Meal? They gots Critter Crew toys! Please please please please pleeeeeeeaaaaassssssse? They **never** let me have any.”

Blair just groaned and shook his head in frustration. _Jim was going to turn this kid… that they didn’t even know… into a junk food junkie in no time. It’s hard enough to get Jim to eat heathy… how am I going to contend with giving her candy and Wonderburger?_

Anjie had just disposed of the empty wrappers and put the can in the recycling bin when she asked Jim “I Mr. Simon your boss?” her nodded “…does he yell alla the time?”

“Blair answered with “He tends to do that a lot. Especially when he wants someone in his office or if someone did something wrong… why’d you ask?” he suddenly saw her quickly cover her ears.

“ **Ellison**! **Sandburg**! In my office **now**! Bring the kids!” Simon bellowed from his office.

“Never mind…” Blair mumbled as the trio made their way to the Captain’s office.

Before they got there, they stopped at Jim’s desk. “I’d better leave Cally here.” Anjie said as she placed her backpack on the chair next to his desk. “You behave, Cally… I’ll be right back.” She whispered into the bag before joining Jim and Blair again, into Simon’s office.

Once in there, Jim picked her up and placed her on a chair opposite of the Captain’s desk. Both of the Detectives chose to stand. “Anjie, this is my boss Captain Simon Banks. Simon this is Anjie.”

“…you’re not gonna yell again… are you?” she asked nervously.

“As long as you don’t break anything, I won’t.” _Why do I get the feeling she’s trying to make me out to be the ‘bad guy’ here…_ He noticed her looking around his office and stop on the ‘No Fishing’ sign he had on his back wall.

“…isn’t it illegal ta have one ‘a those?” She asked, pointing at the sign.

“Not if you buy it.”

“…you like ta fish, huh? I always wann’ed ta learn… you don’ hurt ‘em … do ya?” She looked at him like he was a bad person.

“Yes, I enjoy fishing.” _Who’s supposed to be asking the questions here?_

Jim saw that she was starting to annoy the Captain, so he decided to cut in. “Hey, Squirt… why don’t you tell Simon about what happened today. He needs to know about the bad man you saw… hurt the other man.”

“…okay, Jimmy…”

Simon’s eyebrow rose at that. _The kid was with them for a few hours and they’re already using nicknames?_ Without thinking about it, he lit up a cigar. He saw Jim put his hand up to his nose and grimace. Suddenly the child started coughing.

Blair quickly opened a window and asked his boss to put the cigar out.

Simon promptly put it out and gave an expression that seemed to say ‘happy now?’ _I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this super senses stuff._ He pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled “Sorry, kid.”

“…s’okay…” she said, her voice a bit hoarse. She looked up at Jim for confidence. I was walking’ ‘round an’ I ended up walkin’ in this alley… I heard two guys fightin’ an’ yellin’ at each other an’ I got scared so I hid b’hind some boxes… an’ then that bad man pushed the other man offa the roof…” She said quietly while closing her eyes and hugging her stuffed animal. She was shaking a little as she looked up at Simon and whispered “…don’ let ‘em do that ta me… I know he’ll do somethn’ bad ta me if he finds me… please Mr. Cap’n Banks, sir…” Then she sat cross-legged in the seat and closed her teary eyes, whispering something even quieter that a ‘normal’ person could not possibly hear.

“What she say, man?”

Jim looked at his partner, then his boss, and then back to the trembling child and asked quietly “what do you mean by ‘they’re after all us special people’?” He received no response.

She was gazing out the window and seemed to be listening to the wind blowing past outside. Blair promptly closed it in hopes of snapping her out of what seemed to be yet another ‘zone out’. _I almost want to think that she sometimes does that on purpose._ “Maybe she doesn’t want to talk anymore about it yet. I’m no child psychologist, but I know this has to be traumatic for her. Not to mention it’s probably close to her bedtime. I mean, she’s been yawning since before we got to the station. She hasn’t eaten since breakfast according to her and I don’t count junk food as a meal, Jim.”

Simon cleared his throat, cutting Blair off. “I think we get the point, Sandburg. I spoke with the people at the Institute and got them to agree to have the kid in a safe house. Jim, I want you and Sandburg to play babysitter tonight since she seems to somewhat behave with you two. No arguments. If you need help, you can have Helios watch her… either her or Rafe and Brown will need to watch her tomorrow. I’ll need you two to stop at the Institute to pick up some of her things along with her file. We need to know what we are dealing with and how much we can… trust of what she tells us. After that, check this out.” He passed them a folder containing the name, place of work, and a few other bits of information about the murder victim. There wasn’t much to work from. “When you’re done, get back here with what you’ve found. Have whoever’s watching her bring the kid back for more questioning. Make sure you, or anyone else watching her, doesn’t let her out of their sight for a second. She’s our only lead.”

He was about to dismiss them when Anjie quickly looked over at the door “Cally?” right before all heck broke loose.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

“Hey, Simms!” Detective Henri Brown shouted to an old academy buddy of his.

“Hey, Brown! Meet my new partner, Sarge.” He said, motioning to a large German Shephard standing next to him.

“I never thought you’d go for the canine unit. Sarge, huh? I guess that means he outranks you.” Detective Brown said with a grin.

“Funny… He’s a bomb sniffing dog. I transferred to the Bomb Squad and we’re still going through training. He still has a habit of not listening to me.”

Nudging his own partner, Brown replied “Sounds familiar, huh Rafe…”

Detective Rafe pretended to look around and asked “Huh? Did you say something?”

Suddenly, Sarge started growling and pulling at his leash. “What do you smell, Sarge?” The dog led him to a desk with a nameplate that read ‘Detective James Ellison’… more specifically to a rainbow colored backpack on a chair next to it.

Rafe scratched his head and said, “That’s the pack that little girl was wearin’.”

“Let’s see what we’ve got in here.” Simms said as he tried to hold back Sarge and unzip the bag that was already open a crack. He heard a small ‘mew’ just before Sarge started barking and knocked the bag on the floor. Suddenly a small calico kitten jumped out of the bag screeching as the full grown German Shephard lunged after it. Simms lost his grip on the leash as the dog chased the kitten all over the bullpen. He tried shouting commands at the dog. _Of all days for him **not** to listen to me._

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the door to Captain Simon Banks’ office opened. Before he could ask what was going on, a frightened kitten launched itself off of a nearby desk, right at Captain Banks. Just as the kitten latched itself to his sweater, he looked up to see a large dog barreling towards him.

Right before the snarling dog was about to tackle him, the little girl stepped in front of him. “ **Stop it!** ” she yelled. This was the loudest they had heard her say anything. The dog slid to a stop, still growling. “You leave li’l Cally alone ya big bully… she didn’ do nothin’ to ya.”

The dog ‘grumbled’, but seemed as if it was listening to what she was saying.

“…don’ you talk back ta **me** , mister.” She scolded, waggling her pointer finger at the police dog. “…c’mere Cally…” she finished softly as the kitten jumped off of Simon’s sweater and into her arms. “…don’ even think ‘bout it…” she added as she glared at the dog before he could lunge at the falling kitten. “…now you say you’re sorry…” She scolded the dog again as she cradled the terrified kitten.

The dog simply ‘grumbled’ again.

“What did I tell ya? You ‘pologize to her right now.”

The dog whined and yipped, then lowered his head.

“…tha’s better… now you go sit in the corner an’ think about what you did…”

The dog whined again, sulked over to the far corner of the bullpen, and sat down.

Anjie walked over to her backpack, talking to the kitten. “…don’ you worry… mean ol’ Sarge ain’t gonna bother you no more… he promised…” As she put the kitten back into the bag and put it on her back, she let loose a big yawn. Looking up at everyone’s stunned faces, she walked over to Jim and asked sleepily “…can we go now?”

No one said a word. Jim could only nod as he picked her up and walked out of the bullpen. Blair followed close behind while quickly making more notes.

Before the door could shut, she called out “…if you can be good then you time-out’s over…”

At that, the dog slowly walked back over to Officer Simms and sat down. Other than that, it was totally quiet.

The first to break the silence was the Captain himself. “Nobody saw that… got it? And, Simms… get that dog out of here!” Slamming his door shut, and promptly sat down. Lighting his cigar back up he grumbled “This place is turning into a three-ring circus… all it needs are the elephants…” He suddenly felt sorry he said that. _All I need now is for that kid to get a pet elephant… this whole thing is nuts… one thing’s certain… I’m glad my son, Daryl was never like this_. He looked down and saw a few small snags in his sweater. “This was a brand new sweater…” he grumbled. _This whole situation is getting worse by the hour… I have a feeling everyone is going to need a vacation after this one… either that or a trip to a shrink…_


	4. Two Men and a Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can't believe I have 130 hits on this!

“You sure that’s what you want, Squirt?” Jim asked after Anjie finished whispering in his ear. He had picked her up again so she could see and so she wouldn’t get lost.

“…yup…”

“Welcome to Wonderburger, may I take your order?”

“I’d like one Wonderburger Meal, Wondersized, with everything on it. Two cheeseburger Smiley Meals with no mustard or onions… uh… she’s allergic… all those with Coke.” He quickly glanced out the window at an annoyed Blair still sulking in the truck. Turning back he added “Also one large salad, no dressing.” He knew that Blair had his own weird smelling stuff to put on it. “All of that’s to go.”

The cashier repeated the order and added “Any specific ‘Critter Crew’ toy you want, sweetie?”

With a delighted grin, she thought a moment and said “…numbers 7 and 10 of ya have ‘em, please…” _I really hope they do… I made sure I remembered the right numbers from the commercial I saw… someone broke the display so I can’t double check…_

The cashier came back a few minutes later with the order, holding up the two Smiley Meals long enough for her to peek in.

“These the right ones, cutie?”

“…thank you…” She said as she nodded.

“You’re welcome.” After setting her down, Jim handed Anjie the two Smiley Meal bags and picked up the other bag and the drink tray. As he began walking away her herd the cashier chuckle and say “I bet you’re proud to have such an adorable and well behaved daughter… so polite, too.”

As Jim got out the door, he fought the urge to argue the point. He thought better of it. _I don’t want to draw any extra, unwanted attention to the kid. I even made her leave the backpack in the truck with Blair._ “Uh, Squirt? What do we feed that kitten of yours?”

“…don’ worry, Jimmy… I gots stuff for Cally ta eat…” Then she started laughing when they arrived at the truck.

“What’s so funny?” Jim promptly handed Blair the bags of food and the drink tray. As he started protesting “Don’t give me that greasy food, man!”

As Anjie climbed over to the middle of the seats, after Jim lifted her up, she giggled out “…the nice worker at the counter thought that Jimmy was my daddy…”

Blair laughed and shook his head. “Well, you sure spoil her enough to be… candy, pop, greasy food…”

"I get the point, chief." Jim said as he started the truck up. “…and I got you a salad, okay?” As Jim pulled away, he glanced at the smiling child. “All right… since you’ll be staying with us tonight… there’s a few ‘house rules’ you need to know. No loud TV or music, no flushing after 10 PM, no animals on the furniture, no shoes in the loft so take them off and put them just inside the door when we get in, no letting any strangers in, no…” he continued. He made sure to add some that were specific for her, though some he left in even though he didn’t think he needed to. It was just habit from reminding Blair so many times. As he spoke he glanced over to Blair who was simply rolling his eyes and had turned his head to look out the window.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

It was dark by the time they reached the loft. As soon as Jim opened the door, Anjie ran inside, took off her shoes, and put her backpack on the floor next to the door. She then opened it enough for the kitten to get out and then ran to the kitchen table. By the time the food was put out, she was already bouncing on the chair and ready to eat.

“Here ya go, Squirt.” Jim said as he emptied her food in front of her. “No playing with those toys until you’re done eating.”

She had to kneel on the chair to reach the food comfortably. Before she started eating she smiled and said “…thank you, Jimmy.” As she ate, she occasionally dropped a French fry to the waiting kitten. She made sure Blair didn’t see her, but he finally caught her.

“Anjie? Are you feeding Cally fries?” She nodded with her mouth full of burger. “I don’t think cats are allowed to eat fries.”

Swallowing her mouthful, she looked down at the hungry kitten. “…you like fries… don’cha?” The kitten mewed happily. “…Blair says ya can’t have anymore…” The kitten meowed almost sadly. “…I know… maybe he can be nice an’ get some milk for ya instead…” She looked up at Blair with a sweet smile.

Blair was about to tell her that technically cats shouldn’t have milk, but changed his mind. _It **is** a lot better than all that grease…_ He found a small Styrofoam bowl and some paper towels. _I know Jim would complain if I used a good bowl._ He filled it halfway with milk and placed it on the towels he placed on the floor next to the table. After the kitten finished the milk, she purred happily and rubbed against Blair’s leg. Then she walked over and curled up under her Anjie’s chair.

“…Cally says thanks…” She stated after finishing a burger.

“I guess you **were** hungry.” Jim said after seeing she was almost done with her meal. Both he and Blair were only halfway done with theirs. Then it hit him… he hadn’t seen her holding her stuffed panther recently. “Where’s that stuffed cat of yours, Squirt? I want to make sure you didn’t lose it.”

“…Inkie? He’s right here…” She ‘stood’ up on her knees while she was still on the chair to point it out. It was tucked safely in the belt of her hip-pack. She then sat back down on her legs and finished eating. When she finished, she stretched out with a yawn and let out a small burp. “…’scuse me…” She said while blushing. She gathered up her wrappers, took the toys out of the bags, and used one for her trash. She quickly unwrapped her prizes, putting those wrappers in the bag as well and proceeded to play quietly while the adults finished eating.

Much to their surprise, the ones she picked out were two very familiar animals. A little black panther and a little grey wolf. The Sentinel and Guide glanced at each other, yet again puzzled by the small child.

Blair’s curiosity got the better of him, “What are you going to name them?” She looked up at him with a small, wry grin on her face, shook her head as if to dismiss the thought, then looked at him innocently and shrugged. He had a feeling about what she was going to say.

After everyone was finished eating, Jim decided to give Anjie the tour of the loft. He had Blair throw out the wrappers. “Do you like to color?” Jim asked her as he helped her off the chair. She nodded quickly. “Hey, chief. Why don’t you look for some paper and crayons or something while I show her around.”

Before Blair could go to look, she said “…tha’s okay… I gots my own…”  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

After the tour, including a trip to the bathroom and an extended trip to the balcony, she sat on the loveseat coloring. Jim had pulled the coffee table up to it so she could reach. He also told her not to get anything on the table. As she said, she had pulled a large box of crayons and a few sheets of white paper out of her backpack. She switched between drawing and playing with the two toys and she made sure she didn’t scuff the table either. The kitten watched from the floor below her feet after Jim had yelled when it tried to get on the furniture. Also since she was yawning the whole tour, Jim gave her one of his Cascade PD shirts for a nightgown. She had refused to go to bed yet and said she wanted to draw them a picture before that. She said it was to thank them for being so nice to her.

Jim and Blair were talking quietly about what they needed to do the next morning, when Jim cocked his head and grinned. Before Blair could ask, he put his finger to his lips and then pointed over to the loveseat. They tiptoed over and saw that she had finally fallen asleep. She was curled up, cuddling Inkie in one hand and the other hand was dangled over the edge of the cushion. Blair then saw what Jim had heard, she had lain down while still holding the drawing in her hand. As she fell asleep, she had let go of it and it had landed on the floor. Jim wordlessly passed it to Blair, who was wondering why he had looked at it so strangely. In the middle of the paper was a smiling purple stick figure with brown eyes and pigtails. To the left and right of it were very well drawn pictures of a large back cat and a grey dog… or a panther and a wolf… the odd thing was that it looked like the panther had blue eyes and the wolf had hazel.

Blair set the picture on the table as Jim brought over a blanket and small pillow. He knew Blair would have hundreds of questions for her in the morning. He was curious about the picture himself. He was glad they decided that since she was so small, it would be just as easy if she slept on the couch tonight. He really didn’t want to move her after she finally fell asleep. He put the blanket over her and tucked her in as best he could without disturbing her. She shifted a little, but didn’t seem to wake up. He saw Blair motion to him to let him know he was going to bed. They both had to get up early and it was getting rather late. Just as Blair reached the door to his room and opened it, Anjie shifted and sleepily mumbled “…g’night, Blair.’ Then seemed to fall back to sleep. The two looked at her and Blair just shrugged and whispered ‘good night’ back to her. Jim walked up the stairs to his room and as he reached the top step, he heard a faint "…g’night, Jimmy…” He grinned and whispered a ‘good night’ back. He slowly fell asleep listening to his Guide’s very familiar heartbeat, a new quieter but faster one and of course the kitten’s. Shortly after that it began to rain.  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

The sleeping child tensed as the room filled with light for a heartbeat. Hardly a second later, yet another loud boom filled the night air as the storm raged on outside. Yet again the child jumped and pulled the blanket and Inkie closer. Yet again she was awake. She wished she could sleep, but the thunder was too loud. The wind was blowing so hard, small bits of debris blew around outside. The rain loudly pelted the windows, drenching everything within sight. This was the 20th time she awoke, still facing the balcony. She had tried blocking it out by covering her ears and huddling under the blanket. When she **did** fall asleep, between the bouts of thunder and lightning, she had dreams. Actually, they were nightmares. The Slithering Darkness knocking The Bear off of the tall building. At the end, The Slithering Darkness found her and swallowed her whole… or at least tried to… just as The Darkness was about to do that, another jolt of lightning struck outside. The light blotted it all out and the thunder woke her out of her bad dream.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned. She was still exhausted from all that had happened the day before and she was tired from ‘seeing’ the… killing… happen. She’d never used her… Gift… like that before. She didn’t have a name for it yet. She thought about calling it her ‘Special Sight’, but wanted something that sounded cooler… more like a Super Hero. The only one she could ever ‘see’ was her Friend. He told her all about it and how to use it or at least that if she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could see someone’s ‘Spirit’. It was always in the form of an animal so in her mind it was a ‘Special Animal Friend’. She could see her Friend, but he wasn’t an animal. He was different because he wasn’t really a real person exactly. She didn’t understand too much about it and he never told her about himself. He told her that everyone had and Animal except for Him and others like Him. That was the end of that. He **did** tell her that she couldn’t see everyone’s ‘Animal’ yet, only what she liked to call ‘Special People’ who already knew what their ‘Animal’ was. He even knew she would be able to see the ‘Great Black Cat’ and the ‘Silver-Haired Dog’ without even needing to concentrate. If she tried, she could see if there were others close by, again as long as they were aware of their ‘Animal’. There was something else that she could ‘see’ that she needed to stay away from. He simply called it ‘The Darkness’. At first she didn’t understand… when she closed her eyes, that’s all she saw. After what she saw the previous morning she truly understood what he meant.

As another batch of lightning and thunder came and went, she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, turning her head towards Blair’s room. She saw ‘The Wolf’ curled up and sleeping restfully. She then ‘looked’ up towards Jim’s room and ‘saw’ ‘The Panther’ stretched out and also sleeping restfully. She slowly turned around and thought she ‘saw’ something else. She concentrated harder, trying to focus on a white object. She got up and slowly made her way closer. Being careful not to trip over or run into anything. She was stopped by a wall or something, but she could faintly make out the object. It ‘looked’ like a large white cat with stripes. As her head began to hurt, she opened her eyes and quickly realized she was standing at the front door of the loft. … _I guess she’s prob’ly in the ‘partment across the hall… maybe it’s that Helios lady that Mr. Banks mentioned being like me an’ Jimmy… I’ll have’ta wait ‘til everyone gets up an’ it’s not so stormy an’ dark’ an’ loud an’ scary…_ She was even more tired than she was a few moments ago _…I shouldn’ve tried ‘looking’ when I’m already tired… and ‘yelled’ at the doggie… it’s not nice ta make animals do stuff… I get so tired just ‘asking’ them ta do things… ‘specially if they don’ wanna… my ‘Friend’ tol’ me that The Wolf helps ‘Guide’ The Panther… that Blair helps Jimmy with his ‘Gifts’ and that he can help me too… I wonder why I don’t get tired when I try to ‘look’ at them… I wish I knew where my Friend went… I haven’t been able ta ‘see’ him in a long time…_ She rubbed her eyes again and tried to get herself serious _…from now on I’m gonna try ta use my ‘Gifts’ as much as I can… like people at a gym do with their muscles ta get super strong or people that try ta do mar-a-thons… I’m gonna be as strong as Jimmy and make my Friend proud… but first …I need ta sleep…_

She quickly flinched as yet another round of light and booming hit. _I have’ta get some sleep… I don’ wanna ‘cause of the bad dreams… I don’ wanna be all alone anymore… Blair’s room is closer, but his door is noisy… I don’ wanna wake everyone an’ it might be locked…_ Holding Inkie in one hand and picking up the sleeping kitten in the other, she silently made her way up to Jim’s room. She made sure she didn’t find any squeaky spots in the floor and only paused to brace herself from the ‘booming’ outside. It sounded like it was getting worse outside. When she finally made her way up the stairs, she put the kitten down and carefully climbed up onto Jim’s bed. She tried not to laugh when she saw the funny black mask he wore over his eyes and curled up next to him. _…that’s one way ta block out the light… I just cover my eyes with my arm…_ As the storm raged on, she still tensed from all the loud noises, but slowly began to ignore it. A short while later, she fell asleep and stayed that way the rest of the storm. Her last thought was … _Jimmy’ll pr’tect me…_  
  


~ ° ~ ~ ° ~ ~ ° ~

Jim awoke slightly to a noise downstairs. It was the middle of the night and he could hear the storm raging outside. His first though was that Blair was up. His Guide was breaking yet **_another_** ‘House Rule’. As he focused on where his Guide was, he realized that Blair was still in his room and completely asleep. _The storm must’ve woken Anjie up…_ To his confusion, it sounded as if she had walked over to the front door. As he tried to figure out why, he realized he almost lost where she was as she wasn’t by the door anymore. As another bout of lightning and thunder hit, he heard a slight gasp. _She’s on the stairs leading to my room._ He had a brief memory of him and his younger brother Steven, when they were little, during bad storms. He laid back down and pretended to be asleep. _I’m surprised at how quietly she can get around… maybe Blair could take a few pointers._ Just as he guessed, she climbed up onto his large bed. He could tell she had some difficulty from the pull on the comforter. _I’m glad I decided to sleep in sweatpants instead of just boxers in case I had to get up right away for some emergency._ After she curled up beside him, he waited until she fell back to sleep before drifting back to sleep himself. He realized she must’ve brought the kitten upstairs with her as his nose itched slightly. He was glad she had remembered about the pet rule and had left it on the floor. He fell asleep rather quickly as he listened to the child’s heartbeat and soft breathing beside him. His last thought was that he was glad she didn’t snore.

Sometime later, as he slept, he had a vague feeling that there was someone… or something… downstairs near Blair…

Then it seemed like it was next to him…

The strange thing was… he felt calm and that there was no danger…

Within moments, it no longer mattered as he began to dream…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The character that is being hinted at and will be focused on more soon is an OC of a friend of mine (KSC for short). She was writing a story at the same time back then and had hinted at my character in her story that was to be posted first, but it never was posted to my knowledge. I will try to figure out how to incorporate that backstory into this somehow... I might try and see if she still has it somewhere...


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